PERTH, Australia, 15 December 2004 — Australia’s premier paceman Glenn McGrath — renowned for his pre-Test plans to target specific batsmen — said yesterday that captain Inzamam ul-Haq and one-day run machine Yousuf Youhana were the keys to Pakistan’s batting line-up.
McGrath, who will spearhead a likely three-pronged Australian pace attack in the first Test starting Thursday, said the pair were world-class.
“To me there’s two standouts in their batting line-up. There’s Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll come out and say if I’m targeting any one player but they are definitely the keys. If we can knock those two over it will make our job so much easier.”
While not in top form so far on the current tour, Inzamam was looking dangerous in the match against Western Australia last week before being dismissed by a spectacular catch. Yousuf was the world’s leading run scorer in one-day cricket during 2003.
McGrath said Pakistan were a young team who could be inconsistent but the Australians were not reading anything into their poor results so far on tour. “We’ll be prepared at the start of the Test for them being a lot tougher than that and I’m sure they will be.”
Perth’s WACA ground holds fond memories for McGrath, who made his Test debut here against New Zealand in 1993-94 and took a hat-trick against the West Indies in 2000-2001.
The Australians seem set to name speedster Brett Lee as 12th man despite the lively wicket but McGrath said there was little selectors could do given Australia’s stockpile of talented pacemen. He said the wicket would also offer Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami a great deal.
“The WACA looks like it’s back to its quick and bounciest and I for one am looking forward to getting out there and bowling,” he said.
“I think he’ll (Shoaib Akhtar) enjoy bowling there ... he’ll run in hard and hit the wicket hard.” While the Australians have named their twelve, Pakistan are still finalising their line-up. Offspinner Shoaib Malik is clear to start after extensive testing on his bowling action was carried out at the University of Western Australia on Monday. The results will not be complete for several days when they will be handed to the Pakistan Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
McGrath said the Australians had no problem with Malik playing.
“At the end of the day it’s not up to us to judge who should and shouldn’t play — that’s up to the ICC,” he said.
Australia’s key batsman Matthew Hayden, who was suffering from a hamstring strain, is certain to play on a ground which has special memories for him. In his last test at the WACA in October 2003, he belted a then-world record 380 against Zimbabwe.
